Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyse the morphology of three different Arabian horse lines: Straight Egyptian (EG), Polish (PL) and Desert breed (DB). A total of 146 adult horses were studied. The samples representing these three lines came from different countries. The analyse of variance was performed on 19 body measurements and 12 indices by the GLM procedure to study the between and within lines effect (a=0,05). The principal component analysis applied separately to the body measurements and indices allowed to retain two principal components explaining 26.2% and 12.6%, and 30.8% and 20.7% of the total variability, respectively. The Canonical discriminant analysis assigned 92.7% of DB, 77.6% EG and 72.3% of PL horses in their respective bloodline. The test of MANOVA revealed morphological differences between the three lines. The morphological profiles of DB and PL proved to be very distinct, whereas the EG profile was intermediate in between. The dam line factor showed no significant effect on the phenotype in the EG and PL lines. In DB, only PP (0.024) and correlated body indices (CR, 0,44; CI, 0,21, IBC, 0,026, ICOMP, 0,024) carried out a significant effect differentiated between hamdani samri, kuhailah ummarqob et suwaiti alfarim dam lines.